Study Of Consumer Preferences Towards Online Food Delivery Apps and the Role of Artificial Intelligence

Saniya Khan, Zakiya Sayed

Authors

Saniya Khan, Zakiya Sayed

Abstract

As the food industry rapidly embraces digitization, numerous consumers are utilizing online food delivery (OFD) platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, and Uber Eats, among others. The movement towards this evolution was accelerated via Artificial Intelligence (AI) being incorporated into virtually all elements of the customer journey, including personalization recommendations, automated customer service, etc.; thus, this paper seeks to understand consumer preferences regarding OFD platforms, and how consumers select which platforms to use, based upon AI functionality provided by those applications. To achieve this, a mixed-methods approach was employed to gather both quantitative data from 210 surveyed participants in large urban areas and qualitative data through structured interviews. The results indicate that consumers make choices based upon factors such as convenience, discounts, speed of delivery, and ease of use. However, personalization through AI-enabled recommendation engines, chatbots, and prediction engines, provides an additional incentive to use a particular platform repeatedly. This study ultimately supports our assertion of the importance of Artificial Intelligence as an essential element of customer experience and the differentiation of products/services within the OFD marketplace. Further implications for application developers and marketers will be elaborated upon.

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